Monday, 15 June 2015

Rights and Responsibilities

800 years ago,
today, a truly historical act took place. For the first time ever in history, a
group of (for the time) relatively ordinary people held the king to account and
limited his power over ordinary people.

The Magna Carta,
which is Latin for the 'Great Charter' (not too inspiring or original a title,
I know, but hey, it was 800 years ago!) was put to King John of England by a
group of Barons and churchmen to be signed.

You could say that
if he hadn't, then he probably would not have lived much longer, but to sign a
document promising to limit his own powers was a genuinely historical moment.
Up to that point in history, the ruler was considered untouchable - they could
have whatever they wanted and frequently saw the people in their country as
simply playthings, there to provide whatever the ruler wanted.

The Magna Carta put
limits on that. And they were limits that, on the whole, still stand today. The
Magna Carta was a promise that:

The rights of the church
would be protected,

People would not be
imprisoned illegally, for no reason,

People would receive swift
justice, rather than sit in prison without end waiting for a trial,

There would be limits on the
amount of taxes the monarch could impose.

The Magna Carta, the
meeting near Windsor, 800 years ago today, is a moment in history and a
document that makes History important. This document had a huge impact then,
and throughout history. Your lives are different because of it.

The Magna Carta
failed, as the King tried to carry on his life as if it never mattered.
However, this triggered wars and a new Manga Carta was renewed a couple of
years later and since then has held those in power to account for how they
treat ordinary people.

The Magna Carta
became the starting point on which our entire legal system is based, and in the
18th Century, when the new colonies in America were shaping their independence,
theMagna Carta was used as the basis for
their constitution - the Magna Carta, therefore, shaped the American
Constitution and Bill of Rights.

A group of people
who were not happy with the way they were being treated held a king to account
800 years ago and changed the face of human civilisation forever!

And you wonder why I
frequently say that you hold enormous power in your futures - who knows what
you are capable of doing ,if only you have the conviction to do it…

Today, we have a
universal bill of human rights, a document that most of the world subscribe to;
the following is a list of substantive rights:

The right to life - no human
should be deprived of this right …

Freedom from torture

Freedom from slavery

The right to a fair trial

Freedom of speech

Freedom of thought

Freedom of movement

They are not that
different from the Magna Carta!

And in school? Well,
we have our code of conduct. This sets out the conditions we feel everyone in
the school should aspire to & how we should behave.

In principle, it is
our bill of rights, our Magna Carta.

You have the right
to come to school, without fear of being intimidated or picked on.

You have the right
to come to school and learn; to have the opportunities to aspire to be your
best.

From the code of
conduct:

All students are expected to treat
all other students with the same respect they would like others to show them.

Students will be expected to accept
others for who they are, not seek to limit, put down or control others through
intimidation, harassment or bullying. Any student who engages in this sort of
behaviour will be dealt with most severely, through the school’s behaviour
protocols. Students who believe that this sort of behaviour is perfectly
acceptable are not welcome at Sandymoor School and persistent or significant
behaviour of this sort will result in a student being asked to leave.

This includes actions and behaviour
that occur outside of school.

You have the right
to your own opinion, to have your own thoughts and vocalise them, but in the
context of not limiting another person's rights.

And that is where
things get tricky; you have a set of rights, we all have a set of rights, but
one right we all have is the right to be ourselves, be who we want to be,
without fear of intimidation or discrimination.

That means we also
have responsibilities; and the primary responsibility is to support and defend
the rights of others. To not behave in such a way that the rights of another
are limited or reduced.

And that is why the
code of conduct goes on to say:

Students who experience this sort of
negative, harmful, damaging behaviour need to understand that the school does
not tolerate it and as soon as it is reported it will be dealt with and the
victim will be protected from further harm. This is not ‘grassing’ but is
shining a light on unacceptable behaviour, exposing the bully to the light.

Students who witness or support
those who feel it is acceptable to behave in such ways and who do not report it
are just as responsible as the one carrying out the bullying & can expect
the same level of punishment. To see something ‘wrong’ happen and not act is to
accept the wrong behaviour.

There is the underlying assumption
that all students will want to make the most of the opportunities provided by
the school to grow and develop themselves. Therefore all students will be
expected to strive to participate in lessons and activities that others have
spent time and effort designing.

Within that context,
we have a group of students who are expected to uphold these rights. They have
the responsibility to lead by example and not to limit others.

And to not abuse the
power they have through their position. King John, 800 years ago, learnt what
happened when he tried to abuse his power.

The student Prefect
Team are here to support the school, to strive to help other students
experience the best the school can be and to support the staff in providing an
environment where everyone can feel safe.

The Head Boys &
Head Girls are expected to be examples of this, to strive to be the best they
can be. They are supported by the prefect team; they perform duties around
school, most importantly they are there to hold other students to account when
behaviour falls below our expectations. As I have said before, they do their
duties under my authority, so when they ask another student to stop doing
something, they are doing it as if it were me doing it. I hold them to high
standards, however, and if they act in a way that is less than I would expect,
then they can expect to be told so by me.

We also have a team
of students who take on responsibility in the house system. You are all in a
house and have a responsibility to help your house be the best it can be. The
House Captains will work to support the House staff in organising house events,
arranging inter-house competitions, etc.

And we have our
Microsoft Student Ambassadors. These students have been working hard to support
the ICT in school and are rolling out initiatives to help this further.